Problem: $f(x) = \dfrac{ \sqrt{ x - 8 } }{ x^2 + 9 x + 20 }$ What is the domain of the real-valued function $f(x)$ ?
Answer: $f(x) = \dfrac{ \sqrt{ x - 8 } }{ x^2 + 9 x + 20 } = \dfrac{ \sqrt{ x - 8 } }{ ( x + 4 )( x + 5 ) }$ First, we need to consider that $f(x)$ is undefined anywhere where the radical is undefined, so the radicand (the expression under the radical) cannot be less than zero. So $x - 8 \geq 0$ , which means $x \geq 8$ Next, we also need to consider that $f(x)$ is undefined anywhere where the denominator is zero. So $x \neq -4$ and $x \neq -5$ However, these last two restrictions are irrelevant since $8 > -4$ and $8 > -5$ and so $x \geq 8$ will ensure that $x \neq -4$ and $x \neq -5$ Combining these restrictions, then, leaves us with simply $x \geq 8$ Expressing this mathematically, the domain is $\{ \, x \in \RR \mid x \geq8\, \}$.